Evaristo - Siempre Que Llueve

Click here to open a printable version
(You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Evaristo is a multi-talented singer, songwriter and guitar player. Born in Havana, he now makes Toronto home, where he is developing a new project combining Cuban rhythms with Latin pop, rock and urban to create a brand new sound. He also performs on solo guitar, mixing his own material with more traditional sounds such as Cuban Son in the ‘Trovador’ tradition. He released a salsa CD in 2005, and is currently putting the final touches on a CD for the new project to be released soon.

Evaristo performs in many of Toronto’s venues dedicated to Latin music, such as Lula Lounge and Latinada Tapas Bar. Performance highlights include performing at the College Street Festival, Salsa on St. Clair, the Toronto WinterCity Festival at Nathan Philips Square, and the Downtown Jazz Festival. In 2004, Evaristo's song 'Luna del Barrio' was selected by the Canadian Value of Music Coalition and the Harris Institute for the Arts as a winner in Opening Act, a competition for unsigned artists. He was a semi-finalist in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition, and a finalist in Latin category for the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, for the title track of his upcoming CD, ‘Siempre Que Llueve… (After It Rains…)’.

In 2008, he was nominated in the Best Jazz category at the Ontario Independent Music Awards. And his new video featuring Telmary Diaz has been nominated for six Lucas Awards 2009, including Best Video of the Year. For more information visit our News page, and to watch the video go to YouTube.com and search for “Evaristo featuring Telmary”.

Evaristo released his independently produced CD of original salsa music, ‘Luna del Barrio’, featuring highly danceable songs and innovative rhythms, with arrangements by the likes of Juno award winner Hilario Duran. The CD (World/Latin) is available online at www.cdbaby.com/evaristo. It has been featured on Jazz FM and CBC Radio, and on Latin radio around the world. For more information, contact us by phone, 416 363 9972, or email us at evysaoco@hotmail.com.

Evaristo was born in Havana City, Cuba. He has been composing music since he was a teenager, and graduated from Havana’s Ignacio Cervantes Music School, training to be a singer, as well as guitar, piano, acting, and musical composition. In the 1980s, Evaristo started playing guitar and singing publicly in the Cuban ‘Trova’ style, in concerts and improvised performances around the Havana club scene. Evaristo’s professional career began in 1987, when he played guitar with Jesus Morales (“Moralitos”), one of the greats in Cuban Music. In 1988, he sang for a year with the Cuban National Radio and Television Chorus.

Then in 1989, Evaristo auditioned for the Tropicana Nightclub in Havana, and joined the company as a singer and dancer. The Tropicana has a world famous cabaret-style nightclub show, performing 6 nights a week. He stayed with the company for 6 years, performing regularly as one of the principal singers in the show. With Tropicana, Evaristo went on many international tours, performing in Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Evaristo lived and performed in Milan, Italy for 3 years before coming to Canada in 1997, where he met Grammy-nominee Jane Bunnett, and started performing with her Cuban jazz ensemble. He performed at the (then) Du Maurier Theatre with Memo Acevedo in 1998, and has also performed in the TLN Festival at Canada’s Wonderland. He was a regular singer with groups such as Son Ache, before forming his own salsa band in 2000, and starting the new band and project in 2003.